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Renegades confident Hales will help

Rob Forsaith

English opener Alex Hales will make a whirlwind Big Bash League debut at the SCG on Wednesday after being enlisted as the table-topping Melbourne Renegades' injury replacement for Marlon Samuels.

With Samuels ruled out for the rest of the BBL season due to a suspected eye socket fracture, the Renegades moved quickly to sign Hales and book him on a flight from London.

The 24-year-old is due to arrive in Sydney on Wednesday morning and the Renegades expect him to take on the Sydney Sixers in their final match before the BBL semi-finals start.

Hales will replace Samuels in the Renegades squad but it's the big shoes of captain and destructive opener Aaron Finch he will attempt to fill in their batting order.

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Finch, who has been called up to Australia's one-day squad, crunched 309 runs at an average of 77.25 to ensure his team will finish the regular season in top spot and host a semi-final next Tuesday at Etihad Stadium.

Renegades coach Simon Helmot is confident Hales, who scored 56 and 42 while opening for England in two recent T20s in India, is up to the task at the top of the order.

"He's just turned 24 but he's already an accomplished T20 batsman who has taken apart international attacks all over the world," Helmot said.

"He's obviously been an important member of the England T20 team over the last couple of years."

As a 16-year old, Hales hit 52 runs off a single over while batting down the order in a Cricket Idol T20 match at the Nursery Ground at Lord's.

Yes, 52 runs. There were three no balls in the 55 run-over.

Hales also has a strong sports pedigree. His grandfather took Rod Laver to five sets at Wimbledon in the 1960s.

While his arrival is a boon for the Renegades, the circumstances were poor.

"Obviously it's devastating news for us," Helmot said of West Indian Samuels, who was left bloodied by a Lasith Malinga bouncer in the side's spiteful win over the Melbourne Stars on Sunday.

"We're just hoping he has a speedy recovery. He'll still be around the group."

The Sixers are only a mathematical chance of sneaking into the finals and stand-in captain Moises Henriques suggested they weren't thinking past Wednesday night.

"I know we're going to have to win well to be any chance," Henriques said of his side's finals equation.